My 48g mixed reef.

[Anonymous]

Hey Craig, I'm bumping this as well. You've got lots of questions to answer from your fans.

And I'm going to add my own. How did you manage the aquascaping above? Are the pieces of live rock that are standing on their end anchored at the bottom somehow? Also, how did you fix them together? The classic acrylic rods method?

Thanks for the elbow to the ribs in GRD. I'd almost forgotten about these better sections of RDO. :wink: The 'scaping was done with epoxy and superglue. The rocks aren't attached to the bottom, they're just put together to make balancing(ish) pillars. The pillars on the left are two rocks each, a heavier more squat base with a longer, thinner, lighter piece stuck on top. I'll post some new pics in a bit where it'll be easier to see.

 

[Anonymous]

I moved some stuff around last week. The pillar 2nd from left had a large red Montipora cap. on the backside. I removed that along with the Montastrea (lower left of above pic, the round C-shaped one) which had been under it (the M. cap). I took out a bunch of other stuff, too. The point of all this was to free up some open space in the tank and on the sandbed; it was starting to look too congested. And i needed a place to put my clams, as I got tired of looking at Clam Corral, the specimen container they'd been hanging in.

 

[Anonymous]

adjust white balance before taking pictures. [/note to self]

Tom: The two structures on the left half were made as I described above. The big clump on the right was also made with epoxy/S'glue, but with more and larger rocks.

 

[Anonymous]

Hey Craig. Thanks for the update photos - it looks like you're getting some great growth. 8)

Reassuring to hear that the aquascaping is relatively low-tech. You've got some really impressive shapes there (I was showing pics of your tank to my wife and was trying to explain why I liked the effect so much and compared it to Monument Valley or maybe even those mountains in China. Places like this.

I'll see if I can get such impressive shapes when I get started. 8)

 

[Microcosmos]

Very pretty! But how do you keep the glass so clean? Do you take a razor blade to the whole tank?

 

[Anonymous]

Hey Craig. Thanks for the update photos - it looks like you're getting some great growth. 8)

Reassuring to hear that the aquascaping is relatively low-tech. You've got some really impressive shapes there (I was showing pics of your tank to my wife and was trying to explain why I liked the effect so much and compared it to Monument Valley or maybe even those mountains in China. Places like this.

I'll see if I can get such impressive shapes when I get started. 8)

I can't take too much credit for the nice shapes, as the rock I started with was very nice. My whole idea in making the pillars was just to maximize the surface area that's exposed to water (and not to sand or other rock) and give more room for coral placement.

Nice picture of the Yellow Mountains! That's a beautiful area of China, and I'd highly recommend a trip there if you're ever in the area. Just don't take the cable car to the top... Stay away from the cable car.

 

[Anonymous]

Very pretty! But how do you keep the glass so clean? Do you take a razor blade to the whole tank?

Thank you!

I use a credit card, and scrape all three sides about once or twice a week.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the tip about the cable car. 8O

 

[Petsolutions]

I have to echo what some of the others have said, I absolutely love the open feeling your aquarium conveys! In my life recently I've begun the march toward becoming a minimalist, and as part of that I have learned even more how to appreciate open space and clean lines. I haven't seen an aquarium like yours in quite a few years, as most I see are very complicated and are loaded with a lot of rock. The Yellow Mountains picture being used as a comparison was really fantastic, and so true. I don't have anything set up at home right now because I work with that sort of thing all day at work, but the next time I set up a tank at home you have provided me with a great example of what I would be aiming for.

Thanks for sharing the pictures, love your tank.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much, John.

Color-balanced updated pictures coming soon... those blue ones are awful. (I think now it was actually the blue LED spotlight that was messing with my camera. The color of that light does not photograph well.)

 

[Anonymous]

Beautiful. I must echo the praise for the "open" feeling of your tank.

Mine has become a cluster of crowded rocks, but I'm reluctant to make changes.

 

[Saltlick]

I also thought that I would go minmal rock maximum flow. Then I got all my old dead rock out and realized
I had way more than a 40 should hold and STILL had to get a few chunks of seed rock. By the time it was
all said and done, I have this mountain. BUT I am happy to say that I had a very unique flow sitcho going now.
I built a cage of tonga branch and sat all the rock on top of that, so I get max flow and fish travel UNDER the rock
and minimum light source to coral distance on top. Still too much rock, but at least I have 17 lbs of Timor rock
coming by UPS today, lol.